CHINA LAKE, Calif. -- The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division hosted the Young Engineers and Scientists (YES!) of Ridgecrest conference April 21 at the McLean Lab.

“If you want to be a scientist or engineer, you can start right now,” said NAWCWD Executive Director Scott O’Neil, who kicked off the conference. “Pay attention to the science and math classes that you need to help you reach your goals. With a job as an engineer, the sky is wide open.”

Rear Adm. Mat Winter, NAWCWD commander, was the guest speaker and told the students they were going to do things during the conference that they’ve never done before.

“That’s what we do here at the Weapons Division – things that haven’t been done before,” he said. “You will get to do things here today that aren’t in books but come from books.”

Winter told the students that their future is closer than they may think. In about 2,000 days, most of them will be graduating from high school and moving onto the next phase in life.

“Your future is yours to own,” he said. “You can be whatever you want to be; don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

Kristy Visconti, chief engineer of the Ordnance Test and Evaluation Division at NAWCWD, created and organized the first YES! of Ridgecrest three years ago to heighten the awareness of young men in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades to the importance of math and science preparation. She had been a volunteer with the Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Conference for years and said she created this event because it is equally important to have an event for boys.

Visconti said she realizes that sitting in an algebra class may not be fun for everyone. “I hope to give them exposure to our leadership, our facilities and to show them things that are so exciting and cool that they say, ‘we have to do math and science.’”

Visconti was pleased with this year’s event and said one extra special moment for her was when a student asked if she was going to start a program for high school because he will be entering 9th grade next year.

“He said, ‘this is the first day I ever felt like I fit in,’” Visconti said.

About 115 students participated in science- and engineering-based workshops from configuring a catapult launch to designing parachutes.

This is the third year that Michael Petersen, a NAWCWD aerospace engineer, has volunteered to help with the YES! conference. He has also volunteered with the EYH Conference for four years.

“It’s important for the younger generation to understand how cool science and engineering is, and how important it is to keep up our own expertise,” Petersen said. “I hope they are inspired to be engineers and scientists, but more importantly I hope they find joy and inspiration in whatever they choose to do.”

Special guests at the conference spoke about explosive ordnance disposal, unmanned systems, and one WD engineer explained how he built an airplane in his garage.

Jeremiah Jones, a NAWCWD weapons engineer, was a third-year volunteer co-leading the Keep it Rolling workshop, which taught basic Newtonian physics.

“I like helping the young kids get experience with engineering fields,” Jones said. “I like to show them that it’s not just book work; it’s fun too.”

At the end of the day, the students shared their thoughts on the workshops including Blast Off, Engineering Marvels, SLIME, Ice Cream from Thin Air, Sing Waves! Sing, and Burning Questions.

Tyler Hart, a 6th grader at Murray Middle School, summed up his experience and said “Science rocks.”

For more information on YES! go online to http://www.yesridgecrest.com.

“I’ve been an engineer for about 40 years and I still love my job,” O’Neil said. “To love what you do in your job makes your life a lot easier.”